The invention relates generally to an enhanced performance connector and in particular, to a plug, which is designed for enhanced performance.
Improvements in telecommunications systems have resulted in the ability to transmit voice and/or data signals along transmission lines at increasingly higher frequencies. Several industry standards that specify multiple performance levels of twisted-pair cabling components have been established. The primary references, considered by many to be the international benchmarks for commercially based telecommunications components and installations, are standards ANSI/TIA/EIA-568-A (/568) Commercial Building Telecommunications Cabling Standard and 150/IEC 11801 (/11801), generic cabling for customer premises. For example, Category 3, 4 and 5 cable and connecting hardware are specified in both /568 and /11801, as well as other national and regional specifications. In these specifications, transmission requirements for Category 3 components are specified up to 16 MHZ. Transmission requirements for Category 4 components are specified up to 20 MHZ. Transmission requirements for Category 5 components are specified up to 100 MHZ. New standards are being developed continuously and currently it is expected that future standards will require transmission requirements of at least 600 MHZ.
The above referenced transmission requirements also specify limits on near-end crosstalk (NEXT). Often, telecommunications connectors utilize pairs of conductive elements commonly known in the art as ring and tip conductors. As telecommunications connectors are reduced in size, adjacent pairs of conductive elements are placed closer to each other creating crosstalk between adjacent pairs.
Existing connecting devices include plugs, which are connected to outlets. These plugs can suffer from crosstalk as the rate of transmission increases. To comply with the near-end crosstalk requirements load bars are often utilized to distance the pairs of tip and ring connectors from one another thusly reducing or eliminating NEXT.
A typical plug comprises an upper and lower housing, a load bar, terminals having insulation displacement contacts (IDC) to maximize density and ease of use, and a strain relief member. The load bar includes at least one group of channels extending inside of the load bar. The IDC""s are positioned in the upper housing with the cutting edges aligned with a plurality of wire receiving channels within the load bar. The load bar is placed in the lower housing. The cable jacket is stripped exposing the pairs of wires. The end of each pair of wires is untwisted and then inserted through a designated channel within the load bar including the channels extending inside of the load bar. The strain relief member is then connected to and engages the cable sheath to hold the cable tightly. The upper and lower housings are then mounted together punching down the wires into the cutting edges of the IDC.
The assembly of the plug is made difficult because of the location of the channels within the load bar and the small diameters of the wire inserted within the channels. The diameter of the wires is typically on the order of 22 to 28 American Wire Gauge (AWG) and, the wires, having very little resistance to deformation, easily buckle upon insertion into the channels. Buckled or bent wire within the channels may easily get stuck and prevent proper passage of the wire through the load bar. Additionally, buckled wire can easily become twisted and, without a method of locating the wires within the plug, the separation of each wire from the others becomes random resulting in some wires being disposed close to, or overlapping the locations of other wires hence increasing NEXT.
The cross-sectional ends of the cable used in modular plug applications, as discussed herein above, are typically mirror images of each other requiring two distinct termination assembly procedures. Traditional load bar modular plugs do not accommodate for the mirror image orientation of the cables thus connection assembly is further inhibited.
An enhanced performance modular plug with a two piece housing is provided. The plug comprises a plurality of contact members each having an insulation displacement contact (IDC) end and a distal end. A first housing portion includes a plurality of slots for receiving the distal end of the plurality of contact members, a first latching assembly for mating the plug with a telecommunications outlet, and a second latching assembly. A second housing portion includes a first end for receiving the second latching assembly and a second end for receiving a cable, the first end having a plurality of channels for receiving a plurality of wires disposed in the cable.